Iran’s foreign minister says response sent through Oman, affirms policy that ‘indirect negotiations can continue’.
Iran has responded through Oman to a letter from United States President Donald Trump in which he urged Tehran to reach a new nuclear deal, Iranian state media reported.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency published an article on Thursday citing Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying that an Iranian response to Trump’s letter was “appropriately sent through Oman”.
“Our policy is still to not engage in direct negotiations while under maximum pressure and military threats, however, as it was the case in the past, indirect negotiations can continue”, said Araghchi, quoted by IRNA.
“Our response includes a letter in which we detailed our views on the current situation and Mr Trump’s letter”, said the minister.
In his first term as US president, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Since Trump pulled out in 2018 and reimposed sweeping US sanctions, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said Iran has amassed enough fissile material for multiple bombs, but has made no effort to build one.
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Iran claims its nuclear programme is wholly for civilian energy purposes.
The contents of Trump’s letter to 85-year-old Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which came as the Trump administration levied new sanctions on Iran as part of its maximum pressure campaign, have not been released.
The US president’s letter was handed to Iranian officials by Anwar Gargash, a senior Emirati diplomat, while he visited Tehran on March 12, 2025.
No further details were revealed on Iran’s response, but Tehran has so far rebuffed Trump’s warning to make a deal or face military consequences.
Earlier on Thursday, Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei, said that Tehran had “not closed all doors” to negotiations.
“It is ready for indirect negotiations with the United States in order to evaluate the other party, state its own conditions and make the appropriate decision,” said the adviser, according to state media.